Keppel associate Floatel's creditors extend forbearance to end-September

THE forbearance agreement between Floatel International and an ad-hoc committee (AHC) of holders of its US$400 million senior secured, first-lien 9 per cent bonds has again been extended, this time to Sept 30, from Sept 15.

The AHC holds more than 56 per cent of the Oslo-listed bonds' outstanding amount.

Floatel, an associate company of Keppel Corp, on Tuesday announced the standstill extension in an update about its discussions with secured financial creditors.

Aside from the first-lien bonds, Floatel also has US$75 million in second-lien 12.75 per cent bonds and is the borrower under a US$150 million term loan and US$100 million in undrawn revolving credit facilities with a syndicate of bank lenders.

Signed in April, the forbearance agreement has been extended several times, and relates to about US$22.8 million in coupon payments due under both the first-lien and second-lien bonds.

Floatel on Tuesday said it is still in negotiations with its key stakeholders, including the AHC and all bank lenders under the credit facilities.

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It added that the vessels that are on charter continue to operate as normal and it is business as usual for the group's operations.

On Sept 1, Floatel announced that its payment agreement with the bank lenders - where certain expenses in respect of Floatel Endurance and the bank collateral companies are covered by proceeds in the blocked accounts - had lapsed. It said then that it was in constructive discussions with the lenders to extend that payment agreement.

Shares of Keppel Corp rose S$0.03 or 0.7 per cent to S$4.19 as at 2.24pm on Tuesday.